Solo Lawyers and Small Law Firms Better Off With a Blog Than a Website

Solo lawyers and small law firms may be better off with a blog than a website. Much better off.

I was talking with someone this morning about selecting a provider of professional services.

She found a couple professionals who included a portfolio of their work. A portfolio that impressed her with the professional’s skill, care and expertise.

Rather than a website with acolodaes and a LinkedIn profile, someone could see examples of this professional’s work.

An example of a lawyer’s work would include their expertise, the manner in which they explain something (is it understandable?), the passion the lawyer has for their niche, their ongoing learning and their care for people.

As a lawyer, you showcase this expertise and these traits of care with a blog versus a website.

How so? Find one article a month. Share an excerpt or two in a block quote, citing the reporter, authority or blogger who penned the article.

Explain why you shared the article, what you learned from it and what your audience might take from the article.

All of this in one blog post that takes about an hour to publish on a platform that is as easy to use as email.

Less than twenty hours per year.

On the same blog site you will will have About, Services and Contact pages just like on a website, each of which will be linked to from prominent links in the navigation bar.

You’ll see the site – the blog – and say, “Heck that’s a website.” So will your audience.

But your audience will see you as someone with expertise, a level of care and a desire to learn – unlike other lawyers with plain websites.

One difference is your site will have a title such as Sioux City Workers Compensation Insider published by Attorney Patricia Smith versus Patricia Smith, Attorney at Law, as on a website.

The former is more credible for a solo or small firm. “This lawyer is publishing the leading publication on workers compensation in my town, what expertise and care.”

Another difference is that your site and its posts (articles) will be more likely to be found on Google and on social media – social media because of shares of others, not just you pushing things out.

If you’re looking at your web presence as a solo or small firm, learn about blogs – not from a web marketer, but from someone who blogs – a lawyer or other blogger – to see what may be possible.